Domestic Appliance Inrush Current Adaptation

Solution Overview

Problem

Current domestic appliances require separate designs for each country to accommodate region-specific inrush currents, leading to time-consuming and costly development processes.

Innovation Solution

A method and domestic appliance that allows for setting and selecting region-specific inrush currents, eliminating the need for multiple appliance variants by using a setting mode to adjust the inrush current based on the desired region, with safety features to prevent incorrect settings.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If separate appliance designs are created for each country to accommodate region-specific inrush currents, then the appliance meets local electrical requirements, but the development time and cost increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompliance with region-specific inrush current requirementsVSAvoiddevelopment time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a single appliance design that can operate in multiple countries by detecting the local inrush current requirements and automatically adapting its behavior. The control unit stores multiple inrush current profiles corresponding to different countries and selects the appropriate profile based on detected location signals (GPS, cellular tower triangulation, or user input), eliminating the need for separate country-specific appliance variants.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The appliance dynamically changes its electrical parameters (inrush current limits) based on the detected geographic location. The control unit adjusts the inrush current profile stored in memory to match the electrical requirements of the detected country, allowing the same hardware to comply with different regional electrical standards without physical modifications.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If separate appliance designs are created for each country to accommodate region-specific inrush currents, then the appliance meets local electrical requirements, but the development cost increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompliance with region-specific inrush current requirementsVSAvoiddevelopment cost

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a single appliance design that can operate in multiple countries by detecting the local inrush current requirements and automatically adapting its behavior. The control unit stores multiple inrush current profiles corresponding to different countries and selects the appropriate profile based on detected location signals (GPS, cellular tower triangulation, or user input), eliminating the need for separate country-specific appliance variants.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates virtual copies of country-specific inrush current profiles in the control unit's memory rather than creating physical hardware variants. Each country's electrical requirements are stored as data profiles that can be loaded and applied dynamically, reducing development costs by using software-based adaptation instead of hardware customization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

3Adaptability or versatility

If a setting mode is implemented to allow users to select region-specific inrush currents, then the appliance becomes more adaptable to different regions, but the risk of incorrect settings increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadaptability to different inrush current regionsVSAvoidincorrect setting risk

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements automatic detection systems (GPS receivers, cellular radio triangulation) that provide feedback about the appliance's geographic location to the control unit. This feedback mechanism allows the system to automatically determine the appropriate country and select the correct inrush current profile without relying solely on user input, thereby reducing the risk of incorrect settings while maintaining high adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs preliminary detection of the geographic location and automatic selection of the appropriate inrush current profile before the user needs to use the appliance. The control unit proactively configures the correct electrical parameters based on detected location signals, so when the user operates the appliance, the correct settings are already in place, eliminating the need for users to manually configure complex electrical parameters.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP2689634B1Method for adjusting an inrush current of a domestic appliance, and domestic appliance, in particular cooking range, comprising a control unit for carrying out the method

Publication Date: 2015.05.20 BOSCH SIEMENS HAUSGERATE GMBH

Figure 1~5

AI summary

The invention relates to a method for adjusting an inrush current of a domestic appliance with respect to a region-specific inrush current. The domestic appliance is brought into an adjusting mode in which the inrush current is limited to the region-specific inrush current. The invention also relates to a cooking range comprising a control unit for carrying out the method.